Ukrainian missile attack on Russian training ground kills at least 60

At least 60 Russian troops are believed to have been killed in a Ukrainian missile attack on a military training ground in the central Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine, BBC News Russian reported late on Tuesday.

The troops at the training ground near the village of Trudivske, halfway between regional capital Donetsk and the port city of Mariupol, were reportedly from the 36th Guards Motorised Rifle Brigade, based in Siberia’s Zabaykalsky region.

At the time of the shelling, soldiers from three companies were apparently lined up at the range to await the arrival of the commander of the 29th Army of the Eastern Military District, Oleg Moiseyev.

The BBC said it had photographs and video footage taken in the immediate aftermath of the attack showing dozens of bodies, and that it believed at least 60 people had been killed.

The strike has since been confirmed by multiple sources, but Zabaykalsky region Governor Alexander Osipov called the death toll estimate made by the BBC “unreliable and greatly exaggerated”, promising to give relatives of those serving in the brigade “complete and reliable information” about the number of dead and injured within the next two days.